Lockheed Martin Gets $57.3M Contract for Milstar, DSCS Sustainment

DSCS Satellite(click to view full) Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. in Sunnyvale, CA received a $57.3 million sole-source contract (FA8808-10-C-0002) to provide operations and sustainment support for Milstar and Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) constellations for the next 8 months. This is a continuation of existing Milstar and DSCS Orbital Operations Support (OOS) and MILSATCOM Logistics Sustainment Support (MLSS) contracts currently performed by Lockheed Martin. Milstar is a 5-satellite military communications system that provides the US National Command Authorities, US Department of Defense (DoD) and operational US forces with secure, jam-proof communications between fixed-site, mobile and portable terminals. The follow-on system, the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite constellation, will support twice as many tactical networks, while providing 10-12 times the capacity and 6 times higher data rate transfer than that of the Milstar satellites. The Milstar system is composed of 3 segments: space segment, comprising satellites in a ring constellation; terminal segment, consisting of communications terminals installed on ships, submarines, aircraft and vehicles; and mission control segment, based at Shriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, CO. Of the 5 Milstar satellites that constitute the constellation, 2 are of the first-generation Block I design that were launched in 1994 […]